This invention relates to an apparatus and a method for controlling the feed intake of animals, particularly poultry.
It is becoming increasingly important in animal feeding operations that the feed supply for the animals be controlled. Typically, in operations involving poultry, the poultry are confined in cages in a controlled environment and the cages are stacked together to form a row of cages of varying height and density. A trough type feeder is usually adjacent to the cage with an opening in the cage to permit access to the feeder by the poultry. The poultry, with unlimited access to the feed supplement in the trough, however, will tend to consume more feed than is needed for growth or egg production. This accordingly results in a reduction in feed efficiency and is of critical importance to the overall economic success of a large poultry feeding operation. Therefore, a means to eliminate a reduction in feed efficiency by over consumption of the feed supplement by the poultry is very much needed.
Several different types of devices have been proposed to control feed consumption by caged animals such as poultry. U.S. Pat. No. 3,916,837 for example describes a trough feeder for poultry having a movable shield to prevent access by the poultry when the feed is being deposited in the feed trough by an automatic feeder. A time clock and feed level sensor with the automatic feeder is included to open and close the feeder trough shield when preset times and feed levels are reached. U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,071 describes another type of a feed trough in which a movable top cover is placed over the feed trough to prevent access by the poultry. Control and cable means is provided for displacement of the cover to provide access to the feed supplement at predetermined intervals.
Both of these devices provide a means of controlling the feed intake of animals by controlling access to the feed, however, the equipment contained in both of these situations require the use of feed troughs which have been significantly modified in order to prevent access by the animal. These special feed troughs requ1re significant expenditure of money or extensive cage modifications thereby significantly increasing the cost of a poultry operation. It would therefore be highly beneficial if equipment could be found to regulate the feed intake of animals which avoids the need for complicated and special equipment and which could be adapted to existing cage systems as well as feed troughs in general with only minor modifications. This would permit ready adaptation to existing poultry operations without extensive equipment purchases to replace existing cages; feed troughs and the like.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which is highly useful in controlling feed intake for animals, particularly for caged animals.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a controlled feeding apparatus that is adaptable to an existing cage system such as for example for the feeding of poultry or swine.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for regulating the feed intake of animals such as poultry for purposes of controlling feed consumption by the poultry to predetermined levels for maximum feed efficiency and egg production.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and drawings.